Indonesian cleric Bashir guilty on terrorism charges

Abu Bakar Bashir now has 15 years to try out his winning smile on the prison wardens. Unless he gets off on appeal again.

Radical Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has been found guilty by an Indonesian court of inciting and financing terrorism.

Bashir was convicted for arranging the financing of a terrorist cell uncovered in the Indonesian province of Aceh last year, a new grouping that included a who’s who of the remnants of the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah and other assorted militants.

Prosecutors said Bashir was the “emir”, or figurehead of the group, and had held at least one planning meeting with Dulmatin, a senior figure in the Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Bashir has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, but his undeterred supporters chanted “God is great” as judges delivered their verdict.

Abu Bakar Bashir was his normal smiling self when he arrived at court amid a strong security presence that included balaclava-clad snipers on nearby buildings.

Bashir denounced Australia and America, saying they wanted to “elimiinate” him because he was “fighting for Islam”.

“Australia and America have a very big role … in determining the court’s verdict,” Bashir said. “[They would] killl me if they can. If they can’t, they just want to get me out of society.”

He called on his supporters to keep up the fight for an Islamic state but stopped short of advocating violent retaliation if he was given a lengthy prison term.

“Don’t be sympathetic to me, but carry out things on the way to Allah.”

Maintaining his innocence before the verdict was read out, Bashir insisted “I am not a terrorist.”

“If I helped in Aceh, then it is not wrong. It’s in the Koran. It’s a defence against the war on Islam.”

Among his supporters at the court were men wearing jackets emblazoned in Indonesian “Holy warrior, not terrorist”.

Bashir was implicated in the Bali atrocity because he co-founded Jemaah Islamiah and some of the members of the cell had attended his school. Bashir repeatedly praised the bombings and those involved as “holy warriors”.

He labelled Australian and other foreign tourists who frequent Bali as “maggots”.

Newswarped thinks that while Abu Bakar Bashir might think he is in the right he is in fact totally wrong. Anyone who thinks ‘innocents’ deserve to die is about as far from knowing Allah as you can get.